


Different Indeed

by CalyJackson



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 23:23:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17887079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalyJackson/pseuds/CalyJackson
Summary: "Didn't your mom make you cookies when you were sad?"





	1. Cookies

"Didn't your mom ever bake you cookies when you're sad?"

I wish.

Being the daughter of the oh so famous tremble at her name Maleficent wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. And after a while, there was only so much destruction that could be done to the island before we - as its citizens - felt the effects. When I was younger, and before I sparked my friendship with Evie, Carlos, and Jay, 'Queen' Maleficent had her baby girl out, bringing income into the home not earned in the most moral ways.

I will never forgive her for that.

I would return to our little corner of the island ran mainly by rodents, crying and only here the words "How much did you get today?"

On the days I was too sore to 'get' anything, cookies were the last thing I got.

"It's different on the island."

Different indeed.


	2. Jay

She met Jay first.

It was after a really rough day of being Mal. Whoever had the brilliant idea of forcing a nine-year-old girl to live with the evilest things on the planet really needed a psych evaluation.

Cradling her freshly wounded arm, Mal's eyes were downcast. Even though no portion of the island was considered 'nice', the area Maleficent and her precious child made camp was the roughest.

Please don't notice me. Please don't talk to me. Please -

Her thoughts were cut off by a force plowing her into the mud. If her arm wasn't broken before, it certainly was now.

"Sorry!" The force said, picking her up off the cobblestone road.

Finally actually looking at the figure - boy - she noticed he wasn't much older than herself. Matted brown hair hung below his shoulder and was held back by a rust-colored bandana.

Before she could reply, a heavyset man Mal recognized as one of her more gentle customers came running around the corner.

Not wanting to stick around, the boy grabbed her uninjured arm and took off running toward the center of town. Mal's limbs flailing behind, trying to keep up.

The pain of her injuries made her eyes burn with unshed tears.

Following the boy behind a huge stock of potatoes from Auradon, the only food given to them by their home country, they watched as the man ran straight past them. Waiting in heavy silence, the noise of the bustling criminals drowned out the sound of the pair's heavy breathing.

"Sorry to drag you into that little fiasco." The boy said. "I'm Jay!" He grinned, revealing a missing front tooth.

"Mal." She looked down at her arm and winced. How was she to earn money if she was a broken toy? Her mother was not going to like that.

'Well, Mal, how about I take you to my house?" Jay asked, standing up as much as possible in their hiding place. "My dad is Jafar and he knows tons of ways to fix that arm of yours."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Mal stood up as well, taking Jay's outstretched hand into her own.

"After you, my prince."


	3. Evie

Evie was always around.

The Evil Queen and Maleficent were friends since they were little villains in training. With names literally describing their personalities, it was no wonder that the two fugitives did everything together.

Both criminals got pregnant around the same time with The Evil Queen discovering first. A beautiful baby girl with lips as red as a rose and ivory skin was born and a month and a half later, another damsel was born with flaming purple hair and a stony glare.

In the beginning, the toddlers were not keen on each other; The Evil Queen teaching to value beauty and Maleficent to value power.

It wasn't until perfect Evie witnessed Mal being thrown to a wall by a man thrice her size that the pale beaut realized that being the daughter of the evilest woman in the world did not earn you a reputation that keeps you safe.

Frozen in fear, Evie stood, waiting for Mal to fight back, to scream, to run away.

All of a sudden, a boy with shoulder length hair tied back with a bandana ran around the corner and took an object out of the man's pocket, giving Mal an opportunity to get away as her attacker took chase to the young boy.

After that day, Evie never mistook Mal's icy glare for malice. Mal was born into a hard life, and Evie was determined to make it a little better.


	4. Carlos

Carlos was one of the strangest friends Mal ever acquired.

She had originally found him frequenting the strip of shops and booths the islanders had created; a place for buying and selling. He was a constant presence, talking to the adults or playing games with the children at all hours of the day. Mal was curious as to why he never seemed to go home. Even though Maleficent didn't particularly love her daughter, the wretch did ensure that Mal was fed and clothed… some days.

Ever since the newfound friendship with Jay and Evie, Ma has slowly slipped from her depressive state. She has finally had a chance to be a somewhat normal ten-year-old.

It was after a night of pleasing customers that Mal had passed the boy sitting on a stairwell. Jay, who had taken to walking her home after she had finished her job, noticed that her attention had shifted off of himself.

"Why don't you and I just go and talk to him?" Jay questioned. Mal quickly replied, "He'll think we're weird."

"He already thinks that. You've been staring at him for five minutes."

Mal flipped him off, earning a laugh for the boy sitting on the steps.

With a grunt of annoyance, Mal stomped across the street and plopped down on the step above where the boy was.

"Can I help you?" The boy asked, taking a large bite of his apple.

"I'm Mal." She countered. "And that idiot who looks sort of like a girl is Jay."

"I'm Carlos!" He exclaimed. "Now tell your Jay to get his scrawny self over here so we can go on an adventure."

Laughing, Mal called for Jay, and the three went giggling down the street.


	5. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The education on the Isle of the Lost was much different in comparison to Auradon's.

The education on the Isle of the Lost was much different in comparison to Auradon's.

For starters, your classes were never normal reading, math, history, and science. You were forced into a class based upon your gender. Males took woodworking, metalworking, and horticulture courses; females took basic cooking, parenthood, and sewing. Also, you only go from the ages of ten to eighteen. It was not separated by grade level.

Jay, being eleven, had already been enrolled in the island's school for one year and since both Mal and Evie were freshly turned ten, their daily schedule switched from mischief-making to spending eight precious hours in a building.

Evie took to the sewing and parenting courses right away, her mother already teaching her the basics. Mal, however, after being so used to living like the boys, felt bored by the required courses.

"Jay. Please… If I have to change one more baby doll's diaper, I'm going to throw myself at that stupid force field until I pass out." she complained one day as the friends were walking home. Evie, who enjoyed school much more than spray painting the abandoned buildings, smiled. "Oh Mal, you are just a sour puss because they made you stop carving "Maleficent Rules" into the tables."

Mal grunted and rolled her eyes when Jay busted out laughing.

After another month of school, Mal's attitude still hadn't changed regarding her course load. It didn't make matters any better when she met Jay by the front doors and all he would talk about was how his teachers were finally treating his class like men. "... And they even let us learn why we aren't allowed to be on Auradon!" he exclaimed, a bundle of energy. "Apparently your mom made a whole town sleep for like, a hundred years!"

This made Mal infuriated. Yes. Her mom committed a crime. But why pick on her mom? It's not like Jafar, Jay's thieving dad, was any more esteemed in Auradon!

"Would you just shut up?" she challenged. "Yes. My mom is not the most benevolent woman on this planet. So, would this whole freaking place just stop talking about her?"

Mal was as close to tears as Jay had ever seen her. Pulling her into a hug, he started running his fingers through her purple locks.

"How about I show you how to identify if a corn stalk has a disease?" he inquired, trying to take Mal's mind off of her abusive mother.

Leaning back, she gave a small smile to her best friend. "I'd like that."

That afternoon, Mal ran into the apartment she and her mother shared with the Evil Queen and Evie, talking all about stalk rot and Anthracnose leaf blight.


	6. Hurry Up

School was out for winter break and spirits were high on the island.

Mal and her ragtag gang of misfits gallivanted through the streets, spray painting everything in sight with the words "Long Live". It was on was of these escapades that Mal found herself alone with Jay.

Now, under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have been unwelcome. In fact, Mal had a very loving relationship with her surrogate brother and would do anything for him.

However, the week before school was let free, they had the talk. Like, the talk. A lady from Auradon came into the school (with five bodyguards no less) and lectured about the type of changes they as young women would go through and don't worry, it is perfectly normal.

Ugh,

So when Mal realized that she was in a dimly lit cavern with another person, she flipped. in fact, she was so agitated, what when she turned around her lips collided with Jay's.

Worst. Day. Ever.

Jay's eyes were wide, his thoughts racing a mile a minute. Did I miss something? he wondered.

Mal started to apologize rapidly, snapping Jay's brain back into focus.

"- don't hate me - oh my gosh - I didn't mean -" Jay, in a spur of the moment decision, kissed her again.

After no movement from Mal, Jay opened his eyes - had not noticed they shut - to find Mal shaking.

"Please. Just hurry up and get it over with."

Jay, without even realizing, had become the monster that had abused the purple haired girl all her life.

"Mal, I swear, I didn't mean to."

"I- it's fine. Just… can we not do that again?"

"Sure, Mal. Never again. We'll even spit shake on it." Jay received a small smile.

"Friends?"

"Friends."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this story!


End file.
